Ham & Cheese Instant Pot Pasta is so creamy, cheesy, and delicious!  One of our favorite Instant Pot recipes for a quick family pleasing dinner!

ham & cheese instant pot pasta in bowl

My Instant Pot Mac and Cheese has become one of the most popular recipes around here!  We love how easy it is to skip the box and have a cheesy and filling pasta on the table fast.  Since you guys love the mac & cheese so much, I wanted to do another pasta in the pressure cooker, but make it with meat so that it’s more of a meal.  We love ham, and I always keep a package of diced ham in my fridge, but you can make this with leftover ham too!

Ham & Cheese Instant Pot Pasta:

As you can see, I did change this up a bit from my regular macaroni and cheese.  We used rotini, and I’m loving how it really stays firm to the bite.  I tested several different times on this to get it right, and the rotini really holds it shape and texture well.  I used a large package of the smaller diced ham, cubed is fine too.  Instead of several shredded cheeses I used cheddar only, along with cream cheese and sour cream.  It’s super creamy and really has a nice seasoned flavor!

ham and cheese pasta in the instant pot

How To Make Instant Pot Ham & Cheese Pasta:

  • Simply add your rotini right to the bottom of your Instant Pot.
  • Pour over the chicken broth, water, hot sauce, and seasonings.
  • No need to stir.  Place the lid on the pot and set the valve to sealing.
  • Cook on manual/high pressure for 5 minutes, then carefully open the valve and do a quick pressure release.
  • Open the pot and stir in the diced ham, cream cheese, and sour cream.
  • Next, stir in the milk and the shredded cheese.  Stir in the cheese 3 handfuls at a time, stirring in between each addition.

Serve this with your favorite veggies!  We love to have it with a simple green side salad.  If you’d like it’s also great with the Best Green Beans or even Oven Roasted Carrots!

ham and cheese pasta in a bowl

Enjoy!

~Nichole

4.98 from 45 votes

Ham & Cheese Instant Pot Pasta

Ham & Cheese Instant Pot Pasta is so creamy, cheesy, and delicious!  One of our favorite Instant Pot recipes for a quick family pleasing dinner!
Prep 5 minutes
Cook 5 minutes
Time for pot to come to pressure 5 minutes
Total 10 minutes
Servings 6

Ingredients 

Instructions 

  • Add the uncooked rotini along with the chicken broth, water, hot sauce, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and ground mustard to the pot.
  • Place the lid on the pot and set the valve to sealing.
  • Cook on manual, high pressure, for 5 minutes, then do a quick pressure release.
  • Carefully open the pot and stir in the diced ham, cream cheese, and sour cream.
  • Next, stir in the milk, then add the cheese 3 handfuls at a time, stirring in between each addition until smooth.

Notes

*NOTE:  The hot sauce does not make this recipe spicy, it adds great flavor!

Additional Info

Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Like this? Rate & review this recipe below!

 


Hey! Nice to meet you! I'm Nichole!

Welcome to The Salty Marshmallow! I'm a mom, animal lover, photographer, & kitchen mess-maker. Here you will find the result of my decades-long passion for chasing the best flavors in the kitchen, all meant to be cooked by regular people with busy lives just like you and me.

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47 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Thank you for this delicious, fabulous recipe.
    It makes a giant amount (I’d say it serves eight) and we’ll be eating it for a few days for sure.

  2. How much is a serving size, 1cup, 2cups 6 oz? 6 serving is hard to judge in a pot. Taste great will make again

  3. Great! Very kid friendly. Even my picky 2 year old liked it. I made it as written, but added some frozen peas. This is a keeper!

  4. 5 stars
    Whole family loved this! I tried to lighten it up a tiny bit and also use what I had on hand, so I subbed whole wheat pasta, Neufchâtel cheese for cream cheese and plain fat free greek yogurt for the sour cream. Tossed in some peas and broccoli at the end. Will definitely make again! Fast and delicious for a busy weeknight!

  5. 5 stars
    I made this with some slight modifications. I don’t own hot sauce and had to substitute the rotini with bow tie pasta. I added an extra cup of water to make sure the pasta was covered. This was delicious and I will definitely make it again!

  6. 5 stars
    Loooooove this! I make lunches for the week on Sunday nights and this is a go-to for us. I leave the hot sauce out because I’m afraid of spicy. Should I try it?

    1. Hi! We love Tabasco Brand Chipotle “hot sauce”. It’s not hot just has a smoky flavor. Very good! Since my hubby can’t eat cayenne pepper anything, which most hot sauces have in them. The chiptle gives great flavor to anything. We love anything that says chipotle on it, so smoky and delicious! Also, there are plnety if mild hot sauces. I think salsa would also do the trick?